Planned Parenthood: Funding cuts would have major impact on local, low-income women

McALLEN — Jamie Henry, 24, is enrolled at South Texas College, has two children and gets by on government assistance and a $540 disability check her husband, a veteran of the Marines and National Guard, receives every month.

Henry, who gave birth to a baby girl four months ago and does not want any more children in the near future, is the type of woman Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County is fighting to protect from an onslaught of legislative attempts to cut basic family planning services at the state and federal level.

“I have a 7-year-old boy and a 4-month-old girl, and I probably would have had 10 kids in between that if I didn’t come here and get my (contraceptive) shot,” Henry said Tuesday morning as she waited for her appointment at Planned Parenthood’s McAllen clinic.

The association sees about 23,000 patients a year throughout its 10 centers in Hidalgo County, with the exception of one center in Rio Grande City, said CEO Patricio C. Gonzales. If the proposed cuts are approved, eight of every 10 women who visit the centers would be cut off from services, which most can’t afford for lack of private insurance, he added.

“Down here — because the area we serve is very low income — we’re very dependent on federal and state grants,” Gonzales said. “If the cuts were approved, we would still be around, but we would probably be a much, much smaller agency.”

PROPOSED CUTS

The U.S. House recently voted to eliminate the Title X (10) Family Planning Program, which was enacted in 1970 by Republican President Richard Nixon. The program — the only one of its kind, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — ensures that low-income families have access to contraceptive services, including supplies and information, as well as related preventive services, such as breast, testicular and cervical cancer exams.

“We’re very concerned about the federal activity going on in Congress right now to eliminate Title X,” Gonzales said. “We’ve got 10 (centers) that get Title X funding. So eliminating it would drastically affect us down here.”

“The cuts would be very devastating because right then and there, 6,000 women would not be able to get access to health care — basic, life-saving screenings for cancer, pap smears, breast exams, birth control — all of this preventive care, which saves the taxpayers money,” Gonzales said.

But eliminating the program is not the only attempt by the federal government to debunk the association, the CEO added. The Pence Amendment, which also was passed by the Republican-dominated House, seeks to strip Planned Parenthood of any federal funding by declassifying it as a Medicaid provider, he said. Congress has until April 8 to take action on both measures.

At the state level, legislators are debating whether to reauthorize a five-year program slated to end Dec. 31. The Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program makes it possible for low-income women, like Henry, to receive a physical exam, Pap smear and a 12-month supply of birth control for as little as $30 to no cost, Gonzales said. Nearly 8,000 women in the county receive those benefits.

“I don’t have $150 or however much the birth control shot is, plus the doctor’s visit,” Henry said. “It’s expensive.”

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Proponents of the proposed cuts argue eliminating the services would help reduce the deficit, but Gonzales believes otherwise.

The Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which increased services offered to low-income women in Hidalgo County by 40 percent since 2007, saves the state $10 for every $1 invested, Gonzales said.

In 2008, he added, it helped save $20 million for Texas — the state with the highest number of uninsured women in the country — by cutting down on costs associated with unwanted pregnancies and by diagnosing problems before they became more advanced and expensive to treat.

It’s also less expensive to prevent a pregnancy than to pay for so-called Medicaid babies, Gonzales said.

It takes about $240 to provide a woman with preventive family planning services (birth control) for one year, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Meanwhile, it costs more than $16,000 per woman for the delivery and first year’s care of the infant for a pregnancy covered by Medicaid — in Texas, more than half the births are covered by the public insurance program. 

“It really would add to the deficit rather than reduce the deficit,” Gonzales said. “So to eliminate a program that saves money to the taxpayers, I don’t think is being responsible.”

Because some Planned Parenthood affiliates provide abortion services, Gonzales said, some advocates wish to see the national organization weakened — through funding cuts — as a way to decrease the number of abortions.

But eliminating access to birth control would only do the opposite, he argued.

The Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County does not offer any abortion services, he said. And by law, funding provided by the state and federal governments cannot be used to fund abortion services. 

“It’s politics, I think,” Gonzales said. “And I think they’re targeting women … because it makes no sense to go after programs that save taxpayers money.”

WORST-CASE SENARIO

If all of the proposed cuts were to be approved, Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County would have to close the doors to most of its centers, leaving maybe one or two open, Gonzales said.

“We would be serving maybe less than 4,000 a year — those that could afford to pay or women that are on some kind of insurance,” he said.

A majority of them, however, would be left out in the cold without proper insurance, Henry said. The only time she could afford to go to a private doctor’s office was when she was receiving Medicaid.

“After I had my kids, I had Medicaid for two months,” Henry said. “So I would see my doctor, but after I lost my Medicaid, I would come to Planned Parenthood because they see you without insurance.”

Nearly 87 percent of the clients throughout the county are classified as low-income, Gonzales said.

“If you see in there, it’s packed,” Henry said, motioning to the waiting room at the McAllen clinic, which serves an average of 50 patients per day.

“I went to the one in Mission because that’s where my appointment was at, and it was packed before the doors even opened. There were people standing in line outside.”

The mother of two, who is pursuing a licensed vocational nursing degree, doesn’t know where she and the others will turn if the benefits are ended. 

“So if we don’t have it, what are we going to do?” she asked. “We’re low income, we don’t have money to go and spend. We have to use what little we have for our kids, rent, utilities and all of the other payments we have.”

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Naxiely Lopez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4434.